Animaniacs (2001 TV series)
Animaniacs, often referred to as Animaniacs 2001, is an American animated television series, serving as a reboot of the well-known series of the same name. The series was co-created by the original series' creator Tom Ruegger, Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone, being produced by Amblin Television for Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB as part of the Kids' WB block and on Cartoon Network between September 2001 and September 2005. Background Premise Like the original show, the Warner Siblings and the other characters lived in Burbank, California. However, characters from the series had episodes in various places and periods of time. The Animaniacs characters interacted with famous persons and creators of the past and present as well as mythological characters and characters from modern television. Andrea Romano, the casting and recording director of Animaniacs, said that the Warner Siblings functioned to "tie the show together," by appearing in and introducing other characters' segments. Each Animaniacs episode usually consisted of two or three cartoon shorts. Animaniacs segments ranged in time, from bridging segments less than a minute long to episodes spanning the entire show length; writer Peter Hastings said that the varying episode lengths gave the show a "sketch comedy" atmosphere. Characters Production Development In late 1999, Warner Bros. pitched for another Animaniacs series. But this time, it will have the upgrade to digital ink and paint and abandon the old traditional hand-colored cel process. By 2000, they've released a ten-minute pilot as a bonus feature to the direct-to-video DVD movie Tweety's High Flying Adventure. Writers The writers and animators of Animaniacs used the experience gained from the previous series to create new animated characters that were cast in the mold of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery's creations. Additional writers for the series included Liz Holzman, Paul Rugg, Deanna Oliver, John McCann, Nicholas Hollander, Charlie Howell, Gordon Bressack, Jeff Kwitny, Earl Kress, Tom Minton and Randy Rogel. Hastings, Rugg, Stoner, McCann, Howell, and Bressack were involved in writing sketch comedy while others, including Kress, Minton and Rogel, came from cartoon backgrounds. Voices Various voice actors from the original Animaniacs reprise their roles from the show. Animation Animation work on Animaniacs was farmed out to several different studios over the course of the show's production. The animation companies included Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now known as TMS Entertainment), Wang Film Productions, Yowza! Animation, and Rough Draft Korea and most Animaniacs episodes frequently had animation from different companies in each episode's respective segments. Animaniacs was made with a higher production value than standard television animation; the show had a higher cel count than most TV cartoons. The Animaniacs characters often move fluidly and do not regularly stand still and speak, as in other television cartoons. Music Animaniacs utilized a heavy musical score for an animated program, with every episode featuring at least one original score. Animaniacs used a 35-piece orchestra, and was scored by a team of six composers, led by supervising composer Richard Stone. The composing team included Steve and Julie Bernstein, Carl Johnson, J. Eric Schmidt, Gordon Goodwin and Tim Kelly. Episodes Season 1 (2001-2002) Season 2 (2002) Season 3 (2003-2004) Season 4 (2004) Season 5 (2005) Voice cast *Rob Paulsen as Yakko Warner, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff and Pinky *Jess Harnell as Wakko Warner, Krazy Kat (Season 3-5 only) and Walter Wolf *Tress MacNeille as Dot Warner, Hello Nurse, Ignatz Mouse (Season 3-5 only), Marita and The First Lady **Tress also voices guest characters Melissa Duck (first appearance only), Penelope Pussycat and Babs Bunny *Maurice LaMarche as The Brain, Squit, The Godpidgeon and Estroy (Season 1-2 only) **Maurice also voices guest characters Yosemite Sam, Pepé Le Pew and Dizzy Devil *Frank Welker as Thaddeus Plotz, Ralph T. Guard, Officer Bull Pupp (Season 3-5 only), Runt, Buttons, Flavio, Boskov (Season 1-2 only) and The President **Frank also voices guest characters Road Runner, Barnyard Dawg, Gogo Dodo, Furrball, Calamity Coyote and Little Beeper *Sherri Stoner as Slappy Squirrel *Alexander Gould as Skippy Squirrel *Chick Vennera as Pesto *John Mariano as Bobby *Bernadette Peters as Rita *Julie Brown as Minerva Mink *Tara Strong as Kikko Warner and Sokki Warner (Season 1) *Cathy Cavadini as Sokki Warner (Seasons 2-5) *Tom Kenny as Quirky Warner *Nancy Cartwright as Mindy *Laura Mooney as Katie Ka-Boom *Grey DeLisle as Mandy (Season 1-2 only) and Major Dr. Ghastly (Season 1-2 only) **Grey also voices guest characters Melissa Duck and Petunia Pig *Paul Rugg as Mr. Director *Jeff Bennett as Baloney the Dinosaur **Jeff also voices guest character Foghorn Leghorn *Greg Eagles (Season 1-2 only) as The Grim Reaper *Phil LaMarr (Season 1-2 only) as Hector Con Carne *Richard Steven Horvitz (Season 1-2 only) as Billy *Armin Shimerman (Season 1-2 only) as General Skarr and Stomach *Maxwell Atoms (Season 1-2 only) as Cod Commando Guest stars *Joe Alaskey as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian and Plucky Duck *Charlie Adler as Buster Bunny *Bob Bergen as Porky Pig and Tweety *Billy West as Elmer Fudd and Hamton J. Pig *Bill Farmer (first appearance only) as Foghorn Leghorn *Dee Bradley Baker as Wile E. Coyote *Jim Cummings as The Tasmanian Devil *Kath Soucie as Lola Bunny, Petunia Pig (first appearance only) and Fifi La Fume *Gail Matthius as Shirley the Loon *Cree Summer as Elmyra Duff *Candi Milo as Sweetie *June Foray as Granny and Witch Hazel Broadcast history Pre-production Kids' WB and Cartoon Network era Aftermath and syndication Trivia *''Pinky and the Brain'' didn't return as a segment in the reboot, appearing now as villains for the Warner Siblings. They are instead replaced by two new recurring segments created by Maxwell Atoms, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne, both of which are produced by Cartoon Network Studios. In the three final seasons, following their launch as separate shows in 2003, TGAoBaM and ECC were replaced by two new segments, Super Birds (a family of superhero birds, produced by Universal Cartoon Studios) and Krazy Kat (an adaptation of George Herriman's comic strip and its John Stanley revival, because of its designs, Krazy being male, Ignatz being female and Officer Pupp being a friend of Krazy's rather than he begin in love with Krazy. This segment was produced by Adelaide Productions and Sony Pictures Television). *Thaddeus Plotz is portrayed in the reboot as the CEO of Time Warner (known as AOL Time Warner until 2003) rather than just Warner Bros., making him also responsible for AOL, HBO, Time Inc., Time Warner Cable (until 2003), Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Music Group (until 2004), being also a rival to a fictionalized version of Ted Turner. In a Season 3 episode, the Warners mentioned Plotz as "the big idiot behind the disaster merger with AOL". *The President and The First Lady are caricatures of the then-President of the United States George W. Bush and the First Lady Laura Bush. **Coincidentally, both Welker and MacNeille previously voiced their predecessors Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton in the original show. Category:Warner Bros. Category:Warner Bros. Animation Category:Cartoon Network Category:Kids WB Category:Animaniacs Category:2D animation Category:Traditional animated Category:Revival Category:2001 television debuts Category:2005 television endings Category:Amblin Entertainment Category:Wisecrack-Comedy